Last Updated on 20th July 2022 by
When you’re looking for a dessert without a lot of flour in it, flan is an obvious choice. Delicate flan can be served hot or cold, making it a great anytime dessert for making your day just a little sweeter.
Leche flan works well as a dessert for any kind of meal or as a wonderful snack between meals.
What Is Leche Flan?
This is dish made from eggs and milk, whipped to create a thick consistency, and then topped with caramel. You can make it several different ways, changing up the flavor, texture, or consistency to fit your preferences.
How to Make Leche Flan
Let me share with you a recipe that gives you traditional leche flan.
Ingredients:
- 10 eggs
- 1 cup of fresh milk (evaporated milk works just as well)
- 1 can of condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
Directions:
- Separate the egg whites from the yolks. You will be using just the yolks for this recipe.
- Beat the yolks well with an egg beater or fork.
- Pour in condensed milk and mix.
- Add in vanilla and fresh milk and then mix some more.
- Put a flan mold onto the stovetop and heat on low. Then, add in the sugar and mix until it liquefies.
- Spread the liquid sugar around the sides of the mold and then let it rest for five minutes.
- Pour in the milk and egg yolk mixture and cover the mold with foil.
- Steam the flan mixture for 30-35 minutes and then let it cool all the way down to room temperature.
- After the flan has cooled, it can be stored in the fridge.
How Long is Leche Flan Good for in the Fridge?
Once you have cooked up this dish and stored it properly in the fridge, how long does leche flan last? You should store it in the fridge in an airtight container with apiece of parchment or wax paper around it. If stored well, the flan will last for 2-3 days.
How to Make Leche Flan in the Oven
You can also make flan in the oven, and the only difference in the recipe is that you will be adding hot water- 4 cups of hot water for a dozen eggs. Other than that, the ingredient list stays the same. Here are the directions for how to cook leche flan using the oven.
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Cook the sugar in a pan on the stovetop until it melts and turns to brown caramel.
- Pour your caramel into a flan mold pan or other suitable dish and allow it to cool.
- Prepare the eggs by beating them well in a mixing bowl.
- Add in the condensed milk as you beat the eggs and then the fresh milk and vanilla. Beat the eggs until they become smooth.
- Pour your milk and egg mixture into the mold along with the caramel and then cover it with aluminum foil.
- Place your molds inside a roasting tray and elevate them on a wire rack in the oven, if possible.
- Add boiling water to the roasting tray until you have about an inch and a half of water in there.
- Then, bake the flan for 50 minutes.
- Remove flan from the oven and allow it to cool before serving.
How to Make Leche Flan Creamy
If you prefer your leche flan to be really creamy, there are a few guidelines you need to follow and a few mistakes you need to avoid.
First of all, make sure that the sugar melts completely and doesn’t have any grit to it. Secondly, use a water bath instead of steaming the flan, like I showed you above when baking it in the oven.
Finally, don’t beat the eggs too fast. This helps keep out air bubbles from your mixture so that you have a creamier texture.
How to Cook Leche Flan Filipino Style
This dish is really popular in the Philippines, but how do you give it the traditional Filipino qualities? The dish originally came from Europe and then was adapted by Filipinos.
The main difference between the two styles of flan is that the Filipino version uses condensed milk and fresh milk rather than cream. Other than that, the two methods are usually going to be identical.
Where Did Leche Flan Come From?
Flan has European origins, but lots of cultures have their own adaptation of it. The dish first originated in the Roman Empire hundreds of years ago.
The modern dish has been changed a lot from its origins, and the Filipino version of leche flan may use fresh milk, evaporated milk, or condensed milk rather than cream.
How to Make Syrup for Leche Flan
This dish usually has a caramel syrup topping, and you can buy that already premade or make it yourself. It’s not too difficult to make it home, and I’ve already shown you how.
You’re basically cooking sugar in a pot on the stove until it melts and becomes brown and liquefied. Cook it too much and for too long and it becomes browning. If you don’t cook it long enough, it may be gritty and not turn very brown.
How to Make Leche Flan without Llanera
The llanera is traditional flan mold pan. You can use something other than that if you don’t have one available, like a rounded baking pan.
You just want something that will help hold the shape of the flan and allow it to heat without damaging the dish.
How to Cook Leche Flan in Microwave
If you want to try cooking leche flan in the microwave, you will need to make a few adjustments. You can cook your sugar in the stove top on a pan first and import into a microwave safe dish.
In a separate bowl, mix together your milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and then blend them together with the caramel.
Microwave on medium for 7 minutes and then increase to high and cook for 8 minutes. That should be all it takes to cook it in the microwave, and you can test it with a knife to see if it comes out clean so that you know the flan is done cooking.
How to Make Leche Flan in Steamer
I’ve shown you how to cook leche flan without steamer, but you can also use a steamer to make flan, and I’ll show you how to do that. Use the same ingredients as we did for the original recipe.
Directions:
- Melt your sugar as usual in a sauce pan on the stove top. Once it turns light brown, turn off the heat.
- Mix together your egg yolks and milk, stirring gently and continuing to stir until the mixture becomes smooth.
- Add in vanilla extract (or lemon zest, if you prefer) and mix in.
- Use a strainer to strain your egg and milk mixture. Strain at least three times to get out the impurities.
- Pour your mixture into as many molds as you need to and then cover each mold with aluminum foil.
- Put three cups of water into the steamer and bring to a boil.
- Then, lower the heat and put the molds into the steamer.
Cover them and steam for 25 minutes if you’re using medium llanera flan molds. large ones take 35 minutes, and extra large ones take an hour. - You know the flan is done cooking when you can stick a toothpick into the middle and it comes out clean. When the flan is done cooking, take it out of the steamer and let it cool to room temperature while covered. Then, refrigerate overnight and serve.
How to Make Leche Flan without Condensed Milk
What can you use to make flan if you don’t have condensed milk available or you prefer not to use it? You can use an equal amount of full fat milk in place of it.
To help make sure the flan comes out to the right consistency, split your sugar between icing sugar and granulated sugar, portioning out half and half to each. Other than those changes, you can follow the recipes above to make flan without condensed milk.
How to Make Leche Flan with Cream Cheese
Finally, let me give you a recipe for making flan with cream cheese.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 1/8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
- 1 can of evaporated milk (about 14 ounces)
- 5 eggs
- 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (about 12 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and heat up the sugar as normal Until it dissolves into caramel.
- Pour that into your llanera.
- Mix together evaporated milk, cream cheese, condensed milk, vanilla, and eggs until smooth.
- Pour that over the caramel sugar in your dish and add warm water to a depth of 1 inch. Bake that in the oven for an hour and 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.
- Allow the flan to cool to room temperature and refrigerate for several hours before serving.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
